The Hopp Children’s Cancer Center Heidelberg (KiTZ) is a joint institution of the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg University Hospital (UKHD) and the University of Heidelberg (Uni HD).
KiTZ director Stefan Pfister was honored for his contributions to research into childhood brain tumors and the development of new, more precise diagnostic and therapeutic methods. "We deal with tumors in children and want to help diagnose them even faster and provide more targeted therapy in the future," he said, describing his team's work. In her laudation, DFG President Katja Becker pointed out that he is one of the few scientists in Germany who not only drives progress in his own field of research, but also influences standards in practice. His research is a quantum leap in pediatric oncology and directly alleviates the suffering of countless children and their families.
The award ceremony not only honored the achievements of the award winners, but also provided insights into the specifics of their respective research. In addition, Federal Research Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger highlighted the prerequisites for excellent research, and the award winners spoke about aspects of their research related to crisis, diversity and freedom.
The Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize is considered the most important German research prize and comes with prize money of 2.5 million euros for each laureate. This year, it was awarded to a total of four female and six male scientists
The image clip on Stefan Pfister's award
On the occasion of the Leibniz Prize, ZDF heute journal also reported on Stefan Pfister's researach (in German).
